Grist for the Mill

I’m baaaaack! After a week when I felt like I was in a creative lull, my mind is full of ideas and I feel a renewed energy to create. Maybe it was the turkey dinner last night.

Canadian Thanksgiving is officially two weeks from today, but my family celebrated yesterday since 10 out of our group of 14 were going to be at the same place, at the same time. It makes it easier, since our family is small, to have our holiday on an ‘off’ day as the kids’ in-law families are much larger and it makes the holidays easier on everyone. None of those either/or decisions.

As I was trying to sleep last night my mind wouldn’t settle and I had to grab pen and paper to make notes. I had a lot of blog ideas and didn’t want to lose even one to morning forgetfulness.

There were so many things running through my head, old memories inspired by conversations, new stories to share, and I thought every time people get together it’s all fodder for the mill.

What a strange old saying, I thought it was worth looking into. So this morning as I was about to Google the phrase I realized I had it wrong. Not fodder for the mill, but grist for the mill. Sometimes the auto correct in my brain is on a slow delay.

Grist to the Mill

Meaning: All things are a potential source of profit or advantage.

Origin: Grist is the corn that is brought to a mill to be ground into flour. In the days where farmers took ‘grist’ to the mill the phrase would have been used literally to denote produce that was a source of profit.

Okay, so I still didn't get the phrase right, but it all means the same thing. 

There is a mill in a village west of here that has been maintained and is used as an auction house. Another old mill is used by art groups for some 'en plein air' painting sessions. I remember such a painting of my mother's, done from a photograph rather than on site. And in the west end of Toronto there is a restaurant called The Old Mill that was beautifully restored and an interesting location for dining out.

It's a beautiful fall day, the air is warm, the sun shining bright, and it makes me want to 'day trip' along country roads. You never know what treasures you might find along the way.